Polls have shown that Americans are tired of the U.S. being involved in foreign conflicts. How involved should the U.S. get in escalating crises? Also, Texas governor Rick Perry is expected today to announce a plan to deploy 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Rio Grande Valley to combat the recent surge in illegal immigration. Then, we will discuss the best and worst of summer jobs for teens and young adults.
How involved should the US get in foreign crises such as Ukraine and Gaza?
President Obama called on Russia to exert pressure on pro-Russia separatists to assist with the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 investigation in a speech this morning. The international community has slowly come to the consensus that pro-Russia separatists might be behind the downing of Flight MH17 on Thursday, using weapons believed to have been supplied by Russia. President Obama has made clear that the U.S. will ratchet up economic sanctions against Russia if it fails to "get serious" about de-escalating the Ukraine crisis, but has offered little else on what the U.S. would do if Russia fails to comply.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back to the Middle East to help secure a cease-fire that had been agreed to in November 2012.
Poll after poll have shown that Americans are tired of the U.S. being involved in foreign conflicts. The latest evidence came courtesy of a POLITICO survey released today, finding that Americans overwhelmingly want the country to stay out of Ukraine,, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.
With intervention fatigue firmly setting in, should the U.S. get involved in what's happening in Gaza and Ukraine?
Guests:
Thomas Alan Schwartz, a historian of the United States’ foreign relations and a history professor at Vanderbilt University. He is a co-editor, with Matthias Schulz, of “The Strained Alliance: U.S.-European Relations from Nixon to Carter,” (Cambridge University Press, 2009).
Border Update: Perry expected to deploy 1,000 troops to the border
Texas governor Rick Perry is expected today to announce a plan to deploy 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Rio Grande Valley to combat the recent surge in illegal immigration. The news was first reported in The Monitor, a newspaper in South Texas, quoting a state senator and an internal memo from a state official's office.
The troops will be deployed gradually, adding up to 1,000 within a month at a cost of about $12 million per month, according to the memo. Perry is expected to announce the details of his plan at a press conference in Austin at 2 p.m. central time.
This announcement comes amid a surge in migrants fleeing drug violence in Central America, and various protests in U.S. cities by people who don't want the migrants housed in their areas. Perry has been critical of President Obama's handling of the crisis, referring to this issue as Obama's "Katrina."
What are the implications of sending National Guard troops to the border? What is the current status of the migrant crisis in Texas and elsewhere? Has the number of migrants crossing the border increased or decreased? Are emergency shelters still being used? Is this move mainly a political one for Rick Perry?
Guests:
Christy Hoppe , Austin Bureau Chief for The Dallas Morning News
Jude Joffe-Block, Senior Field Correspondent for The Fronteras Desk, based in Arizona. She’s been reporting on the migrant crisis.
The best and worst of summer jobs
Summer job prospects for teens and young adults are better this summer than they have been in recent years. America’s young workforce seems to be settling into sunnier times when it comes to seasonal work, despite ongoing debates whether internships (especially unpaid internships) are worth it.
Summer gigs have always offered a unique opportunity — teens and young adults can try out careers, explore new fields, work alongside peers and people of all backgrounds. While some summer jobs of yore have been phased out (believe it or not, Larry Mantle spent one college summer as a dictionary salesman), the stories that come along with them live on.
What have been your most memorable summer jobs? How are things changing when it comes to seasonal work for young people? Weasked our listeners on Facebook and via the Public Insight Network. Here's what they had to say:
One summer during college I came back home and worked as a teacher's aid for my hometown high school's summer school biology class. The teacher kept all sorts of animals in the classroom, such as birds and various reptiles. Part of my job was to buy food for the animals from the pet store. One time I had to buy live mice to feed to the boa constrictor. It made me so sad to hear the mice scurrying around inside of a brown paper bag as I drove them from the pet store to the school. Thankfully I did not have to feed the mice to the snake. There was actually a student who volunteered to do that.
—Lauren Shen
My most memorable summer job was working as a crew member aboard a sight seeing tour catamaran cruising along Glacier Bay, Alaska. Glacier Bay, which is where I lived, is about 60 miles away from Juneau, and can only be reached by air or sea. There is a small town named Gustavus 10 miles away from the lodge and our cottages and it had a population of 500. It was such an incredible summer, words can hardly describe. I worked roughly four to five days a week and in my off time, I was usually kayaking somewhere in Glacier Bay, which has two main arms and many fjords and inlets. While I was working, it was hard to call work because it was my job to entertain and inform the passengers while spotted bald eagles, grizzlies galore, orcas and breaching hump back whales, all with the back drop of countless 15 thousand foot plus mountains in the background. And the main attractions were the glaciers we stopped by.
—Carl Penaloza
I started working part time as a cashier at a cupcake shop and never left. I ended up convincing my bosses to let me ... work in the kitchen. I worked there for two years but still work full time as a professional baker five years later. I will always appreciate those ladies for taking a chance on their part-time cashier and giving me an opportunity to learn a craft, which turned into a career.
—Paula Kirsch
I was a process server one summer when I was in college. It was AWFUL. I drove all around Riverside County and San Bernardino County (two of the biggest counties in the nation) delivering eviction notices for $10 a document, and I wasn't reimbursed for gas. People were always so upset when you showed up at their door (understandably), and were occasionally outright obstinate in trying to deliver them (also understandably). My boss was really disorganized, routinely lied to me about things, and took months to pay me. After several days in a row where I had to drive out to the Palm Springs-Indio area to deliver a single document, I realized I was actually losing money on the job, and I quit. The bright side of the job though is I now have a fairly comprehensive knowledge of virtually every freeway east of Los Angeles and can navigate with extreme ease.
—Adam Cook
I was a ball girl, usherette, charity work & softball player for the Philadelphia Phillies for 4 years in college. It was like getting paid to have a season ticket. Yes that is the now gone Veterans Stadium. My favorite job ever. Favorite part was doing the charity events and working with kids (MD telethons) and meeting people - oh yeah and working the world series. (playoffs were against the Dodgers and Tommy Lasorda always came to say hello to Philly people) I'm front row left next to the coach.
—Connie Bevivino-Huffa
I was a young 14 year old hired by the city of Los Angeles to at LADOT (L.A. Dept of Transportation). I remember strapping myself on the outsides of those yellow city trucks. The driver, a very nice white man, and I would drive all over the city to place temporary traffic signs on posts. It was through those yellow trucks how I discovered the beauty of L.A.. It was my first time venturing out to meet the world! I loved it. Now, I'm a teacher and I share all my teenage memoirs with my students. It's the zeitgeist moments in our lives which matter most.
—Victor Castaneda
The most fun summer job was working at the Greek Theatre summer of 1980. A bunch of my friends from Glendale High also worked there, but I think the best part was meeting kids from all over LA. from different backgrounds. The bands ran the gamut from Peaches And Herb to the B52s. We would work late and usually end up at some party together. We even had our own satin jackets made.
—Susan Bowen McGregor
Our Facebook friends share their stories as well:
Guest:
Lori Shreve Blake, Senior Director of Alumni and Student Career Services at USC
Tobacco maker on the hook for $23 billion in lung cancer case
A Florida jury has ordered R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. to pay $23.6 billion to the widow of a long-time smoker.
Mrs. Cynthia Robinson sued the cigarette manufacturer over the 2006 death of her husband, Michael Robinson, Jr. He died of lung cancer at the age of 36, and started smoking when he was 13 years old. Robinson’s lawyers argued the tobacco company was negligent when it failed to inform minors of the dangers of smoking.
The company says it plans to appeal, but this case is one of thousands in Florida spurred by a state Supreme Court decision in 2006 that vacated an earlier verdict in favor of former smokers. The ruling stated families simply need to prove smoking is addictive and that smoking causes illness or death.
How were the $23 billion in damages calculated? What does this portend for the other cases in Florida? Since the U.S. Supreme Court recently failed to grant an appeal by tobacco manufacturers, is it likely this verdict will stand?
Guests:
Edward Sweda, Senior Attorney, Tobacco Products Liability Project (TPLP), a project of the Public Health Advocacy Institute, based at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston.
Jacob Sullum, Senior Editor, Reason magazine, Syndicated Columnist; Forbes drug policy blogger
Is marijuana harming your relationship?
The increased availability of pot means your romantic partner is just as likely to have a joint after work as they are a glass of wine. Some use it as a way of managing anxiety and believe it has a positive effect on their lives.
"But just as with alcohol," says Dr. J. Wesley Boyd of Harvard, "some who use marijuana do so in a compulsive way that places major portions of their life in jeopardy and produces real, significant negative consequences in their lives — be in strained family relationships, compromised job performance or something else."
What is your experience with pot affecting the rest of your life, particularly your personal relationships? If your partner is a functional user of marijuana, does it help or hinder your relationship? If you get high fairly regularly, does it affect your love life?
Guest:
Dr. J. Wesley Boyd M.D., on faculty in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; staff psychiatrist at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA); Author of "Almost Addicted: Is My (or My Loved One's) Drug Use a Problem?"